diy led .. worth it?

Hey everyone just curious to everyones opinion on DIY led . Is it worth it?

It depends on what you want to do.

Do DIY LED if you want to...
- Save money
- Have maximum control of color spectra, placement, heat control, LED design
- *Control the LED itself - seriously, I'll post more on this in a second.
- Are comfortable using soldering tools
- Have a working knowledge of electronics
- Either you don't mind having an ugly mess of wires or you have some carpentry skills and can hide the project in a canopy
- Have time, desire and know-how to really fine tune the system

Skip doing DIY LED if you...
- Don't want or are uncomfortable with any of the above
- Don't mind the extra money
- Want a really nice polished looking product
- Want to control the LEDs but don't want to go through the exercise of learning how to do it in a DIY setup

Now, about controlling the LED setup.  Your ability to set every stinking parameter you can think of is unmatched with a DIY setup.  Unfortunately, the more you want to control the more you'll have to learn.  Most DIY setups have a driver for the LED that provides an interface to a controller.  If you have any kind of programming and electronics experience, you can buy an Arduino (arr-dween-o) controller from RadioShack or Amazon for $30.  You can program your LEDs to do - and I mean it when I say this - anything you want to do.

I love Steve's LEDS at www.stevesleds.com.  They use the Philips Luxeon ES LEDs which have comparable lumens output in the 700-800mA range to Cree's.  Cree's have a higher lumens output but at the currents they'd be running at (1-1.5A) I think they'd be too hot so I personally don't go for them.

RapidLED is another great source.  www.rapidled.com

Whatever you choose, let us know!  It's really fun to see what everyone comes up with.